THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Mecca Normal started in Vancouver in 1984 with the express purpose of changing the world. Naturally, one discovers bursts of social justice interspersed with moments of introspection on Water Cuts My Hands, their third album. Originally co-released by K and Matador in 1991, it is now being made available to the digital realm for the first time.
Mecca Normal — singer Jean Smith and guitarist David Lester — are known as a forerunner and inspiration to the riot grrrl movement of the ’90s. In her 1991 Bikini Kill zine interview with Jean, Kathleen Hanna said, “Mecca Normal: It makes me wanna cry, I am so glad they exist.”
As part of the regional DIY scene at that time, in 1986 Mecca Normal co-founded the Black Wedge — anti-authoritarian poets and minimalist musicians “setting wild hearts free, spreading the damn difficult word of how to combine poetry with activist resistance culture.”
